THE ASPLUND SNOW SERIES CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

It’s easy to identify furniture classics from the mid 20th century, but it’s considerably moredifficult to decide when more recent designs have become classics. Styles and trends in

furniture change more rapidly than ever before, and newness is the focus of both media and

consumers, not longevity. The Snow series by Asplund has managed to defy this by becoming

something very few furniture series can ever hope for; a modern classic in its own time.

Snow started life in 1993 under exceptionally Swedish circumstances; the need to create a

well designed quality furniture series that could provide employment and business for the

small furniture industry located near the Artic Circle. The task fell to Thomas Sandell and

Jonas Bohlin, two young creatives from a new generation, embracing traditional Swedish

design elements while also having an international outlook - and injecting a fresh sense of

humor into their designs.

The first collection was available in the colours rust red, cream, anthracite and the Bohlin

favourite purple blue, while the solid wood birch plinths spoke of Swedish forests. The

configurations of cabinet types remain much the same today, as the designers correctly

identified the users needs from the very start; various chests of drawers, desk units and glass

fronted bookshelves.

Asplund soon became the biggest buyer of the Snow cabinet series, so it was logical that by

1997 we also took over sales and distribution. Some colours have been added over the years

– white being an obvious one – and some other have been removed, but the Snow series

essentially remains just like Thomas Sandell and Jonas Bohlin intended it a quarter of a

century ago. Both men have since gone on to become institutions in the Swedish design and

architecture world.

Today the production takes place in the small town of Tibro in southern Sweden, a place with

a furniture making tradition stretching back to the mid 19th century. Tibro is close to our

customers and export points so it also makes environmental sense to reduce the transportation

distances. The production process is more streamlined than before as the sales volume has

continued to grow with each year, but Snow is still fundamentally a hand made product, made

to order.

The furniture series has a very loyal following; we have couples who bought their first Snow

cabinets when they set up home and started a family, returning again because their children

have outgrown their parental abode but still need good storage. This position of a beloved

classic has been further underlined by some endearing eatable reproductions; we have seen

Snow made into both sweet cakes and gingerbreads!

For the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2019, we are showing the very first Snow cabinet ever made,

some of the changing colours over the decades, and some brand new versions that we think

speak of 2019. What makes a classic remain pertinent is that it can adapt yet quintessentially

stay the same. One thing is for sure – the Snow series by Asplund still remains relevant 25

years on.